In the months leading up to the October 7th attacks, Israel was bitterly divided along the tribal lines that were exacerbated by the government's effort to reform the country's judiciary.

There were major protests and acts of civil disobedience and boycotts and

enormous frustration, distrust, anger, and resentment among Israelis. Then, as you might expect,

after suffering so grievous and unprovoked an attack, as the Israelis suffered on October 7th,

the country responded by unifying in great civic strength. The invisible filaments

that hold the society together were pulled taught by war. Most everyone was a part of it,

and most everyone was together, volunteering, cooking, babysitting, working, cleaning, helping,

schlepping, driving, organizing, while Israel's men returned to the

reserves and left their families, their businesses, their startups, their careers, friends and

neighbors became family and kept each other going. Now, a year and a half into the war, that

momentary unity seems like a distant memory. The war continues, and Israeli society is again divided.

Welcome to the Tikva podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Silver. My guest this week is the writer

and teacher Meika Goodman, author of seven books, most recently the eighth day, Israel after

October 7th. In our conversation, we begin by discussing Israel's present civic tensions and then open up into

a larger discussion of what, in the last year and a half, Mika has learned about Zionism,

about the Israeli people, and the precious, resilient, historical state that they've built.

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